Nets humiliate bumbling Nuggets

There were few, if any, highlights on Saturday night for the Denver Nuggets who were dominated in every phase of the game en route to their worst loss of the season, a 114-70 loss to the New Jersey Nets at the Meadowlands.  The 44 point setback was Denver’s worst in over a decade, since losing at Portland 107-63 in 1997.

Six Nets scored in double digits, including all five starters led by 28 points from guard Devin Harris.  Brook Lopez just missed a “double/double” with 13 points and 9 rebounds, while Ryan Anderson did complete the “double” with 13 points and 12 boards.  Jarvis Hayes contributed 14 off the bench and Trenton Hassell posted 12 points to round out the New Jersey double digit offensive attack.

Carmello Anthony was the only player in double digits for Denver with 15 points, and even that was more than six points under his season average.  Nene and Chauncy Billups each scored 9 points—the only other individual efforts worth mentioning in an all around putrid performance.  Overall, however, the season is going well for Denver who is off to their best start since joining the NBA in 1976.  For that reason coach George Karl wasn’t particularly hard on his charges in his postgame comments:

"Sometimes you're one step slow. Tonight we were two steps slow. Offensively we were slow. Defensively we were slow. Rebounds, hustle points, all that we were slow on. This is the first time all year we haven't had the energy to fight back."

The Nets, obviously, were very happy with their performance and Devin Harris hoped that it would be a confidence and momentum builder for his young team:

"It's good for us, good for our egos. Obviously we feel good about ourselves and now we've got to continue to keep it going."

Denver will head to Florida for their final two games before the All Star break, playing in Miami on Tuesday and Orlando on Wednesday.  New Jersey will play the Magic in Orlando on Sunday and the San Antonio Spurs at home on Tuesday in their final contests before the break.